Friday, January 26, 2007

Walk Through Ravenna

It was sunny today and I have kept up on work pretty well this week, so I decided to go for a walk through the park this afternoon. I wanted to take a more leisurely and wider exploration of the park than I usually do so this time I walked all the way down to the other end (which I had never done before) and explored some of the side trails on the way back.

Shortly after reaching the park I noticed a lot more grey squirrel activity than I had seen there before. On my way out I saw one climbing a tree with a mouthful of red cedar bark, presumably for its nest.

Near the far end of the park I noticed some raccoon tracks in the creek. While I went out and took a look I also felt like raccoon tracks there were starting to get a bit old - I never found more than a couple of tracks at a time and it wasn't giving me much new information (though perhaps I could begin to catalog the tracks to determine different sized animals.) As I was walking up a side trail though I happened to glance to the side and see a raccoon huddled up in the crotch of a tree near the trail. I watched it a while and tried to get it's attention, but it seemed to be ignoring me (perhaps hoping that I wouldn't see it if it didn't look up). After that encounter I kept my neck craned up a lot more.

I saw and heard quite a few birds. A bunch of chickadees I think both black capped and chestnut backed, a ruby crowned kinglet, wookpecker (hairy? didn't get a good look), and others.

I also saw some people applying graffiti to the supports of one of the bridges. They were on one side when I walked down and the other side when I walked back. A person who I had thought was having a cigarette at his sit spot later seemed to be walking around with the painters, so I'm curious what he had been doing sitting hidden beneath a tree by the creek.

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